We get a nice one panel summary of how the Brood colonized their homeworld.
Then another panel showing their slavery of the Acanti.
Then suddenly, Binary attacks the Brood.
In a touching scene, the enslaved Acanti asks for a final release.
Storm, again in her "ghostly" form, manages to contact Binary.
After that, a reunion.
Storm tells of the Acanti-Prophet singer.
And she tells of a new prophet-singer.
With that Ororo proposes an alternative to a suicide run against the Brood.
Let's revisit where the X-Men are at this time, not physically, but in terms of their mindset and emotions. In one word: they're fucked. Ok three words. The Brood eggs laying inside most of the X-Men are a death sentence. Just think about the frustration they feel against a fate they cannot fight against. That is mental and emotional torture - it is an every minute, every second, kind of oppression. But with Storm's arrival there is something, a noble thing, that they can do. It in no way helps them directly with their problems but focusing on helping the Acanti stops that constant tension from thinking about the Brood eggs. So with the X-Men so also with us isn't it? When you're in the middle of a bad time a worthy call to action is a distraction to be embraced.
It sounds good to everybody, all they need is a plan, but of course, they have the man with the plan.
I miss the days when Cyclops did not have all the drama and was just a kick-ass X-Men leader. Wolverine does mess up the party with his doubts regarding the Brood lying inside each of the other X-Men - he and Storm excepted.
It is Kitty who intervenes and prevails over fear.
It's action time.
A nod to Star Trek and the X-Men are inside the Brood homeworld. Just as the X-Men think that everything is working smoothly we have a spy.
I love this panel showing the X-Men moments after their arrival in the Brood planet.
In space, a huge Brood fleet is pursuing the young Acanti prophet-singer but they have a BIG problem.
Don't you just love cosmic-class powered heroes?
Back on planet, as the X-Men fight, Cyclops is beginning to show signs that he is coming under Brood control.
Just as the struggle in space begin to go against Binary and Storm we have a welcome arrival.
Again on planet, Cyclops is in a truly bad way.
Those Brood eyes not only allow him to control his eye blasts but they also give him double optic blasts.
In retrospect, this "betrayal" looks like a foreshadowing of the darker Cyclops we will be having in the future.
In an unfortunate turn, the ground team is defeated.
The panel above shows the sheer size of the Brood Queen when compared to the 'regular' Brood.
Kitty is the last X-Man standing. As she is about to fall we have the wonderful debut of Lockheed!
Then something mysterious happens.
Cyclops struggles with his transformation and Wolverine takes the opportunity of freeing himself.
Logan angles it so he doesn't get a direct hit, only enough to destroy his shackles. Wolverine takes the Queen hostage.
The X-Men begin to undergo their ghastly transformation.
But more than that, the Acanti soul is also showing signs of corruption. A corruption that will lead to a Brood-Acanti alliance that will not be based on slavery. Just as the axe is about to fall, Binary, under Storm's instructions manages to release the Acanti soul from the old prophet-singer to the new.
It's an exhausting process that forces Carol's transformation to, well, Carol.
The release of the soul had other, pleasant, effects.
Binary's power surge also causes the Broodworld (known as Sleazeworld to the X-Men) to be destroyed.
And now for the epilogue panels. First Storm.
What would the X-Men be without another problem waiting in the wings?
